Smoke and Summer Heat

Darrel Curtis has spent more of his life carrying responsibilities that were never supposed to belong to him. Between raising his younger brothers, working nonstop, and keeping the Curtis family together, there's no room for distractions - especially not someone like Ethan Winston.
Quiet, intelligent, and hiding exhaustion behind tired smiles, Ethan is nothing like his younger brother, Dallas Winston. While Dallas fights the world with his fists, Ethan faces it with stubborn softness, even as lung cancer slowly steals more pieces of him away. Everyone in Tulsa knows Ethan is sick. Nobody knows how bad it really is.
Darry tries not to get attached.
But late-night conversations on porch steps turn into something deeper, and Ethan becomes the one person who sees through Darry's hard exterior. As feelings grow between them, Darry is forced to confront the terrifying reality of loving someone he might lose.
In a town filled with violence, loyalty, and boys taught to bury their emotions, Darry and Ethan find something fragile and dangerous in each other: hope.